WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.759
Have you ever wondered why most TVs and monitors were that boxy, almost square

00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:13.040
shape until recently? Well, back in the 1890s, Thomas Edison and his assistant

00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:17.279
William Kennedy Dixon introduced a device for viewing films called the

00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:25.359
kinettocope. This device displayed an image 35 mm wide. Yep, just like film.

00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:27.920
Introducing the 4x3 aspect ratio. But

00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:34.160
what is an aspect ratio? Well, simply put, an aspect ratio is the ratio of the

00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:40.480
width to the height of the image being displayed. So, this same 4x3 ratio was

00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:45.280
adopted by many movie and TV producers, making it the standard for decades

00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:49.840
because that's how it often goes in the film industry. Once you've adopted a

00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:53.840
standard, thanks to the cost, oh my goodness, the cost of the equipment,

00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:57.399
it's really hard to run around changing it all the time. And so it wasn't until

00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:03.440
the early 1950s that widescreen was conceived. And

00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:07.680
this is kind of funny. Originally widescreen, despite having, you know,

00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:13.840
obvious benefits, was used as kind of like a marketing gimmick by the movie

00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:15.200
studios. Why watch movies on your 4x3 TV

00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:19.040
at home when you could watch a widescreen movie at your local theater,

00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:23.400
not to mention paying more for it and buying a bag of popcorn while you're at

00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:29.600
it? So widescreen ratios became widespread starting in 1953 with a

00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:35.040
system called the synorama that used three projectors on a curved screen. Now

00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:40.000
unfortunately this proved to be too expensive leading to the development of

00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:44.720
single projector widescreen as well as movies produced for flat screens which

00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:48.079
is kind of funny because curved displays are now starting to make a comeback.

00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:52.399
It's like technology is almost the same as fashion at a certain point. At first,

00:01:50.399 --> 00:01:58.240
widescreen films were actually made by removing the top and bottom edges to

00:01:54.960 --> 00:02:00.640
create a 15 by9 aspect ratio, very close

00:01:58.240 --> 00:02:05.680
to what is seen in most displays today. But later, 20th Century Fox collaborated

00:02:03.360 --> 00:02:11.520
with French professor Henry Cretier, who helped to create a special anamorphic

00:02:08.399 --> 00:02:14.319
lens that squished a widescreen image

00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:18.840
onto regular film. So when played back through a second anamorphic lens, the

00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:27.520
resulting image had an aspect ratio of 2.35 to1, almost identical to the modern

00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:30.560
21x9ish filming standard. Nowadays, TVs

00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.560
very commonly used the 16x9 aspect ratio

00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:37.040
we've come to know and love, adopted because it could display videos recorded

00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:42.160
in other common aspect ratios without a ton of cropping or distortion. So, not

00:02:39.519 --> 00:02:48.160
surprisingly, this format was chosen for broadcast HDTV. But the story doesn't

00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:52.080
stop there. 16x9 is also the most popular gaming resolution and is used

00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:57.200
with popular streaming websites like YouTube, Vessel, Hulu, Netflix, and

00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:01.840
countless others. Not watching in 1080p? That's fine because 16x9 was also chosen

00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:06.080
because it downscales easily to other resolutions.

00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:10.959
But even with the ubiquity of 16 by9, many people still prefer even wider

00:03:08.959 --> 00:03:14.640
aspect ratios because they give you a more immersive experience thanks to the

00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:20.080
fact that they fill up more of your visual field. Flying through space in No

00:03:17.519 --> 00:03:25.599
Man's Sky, driving off-road in Dur 3, or just playing Minecraft in a 21x9 ultra

00:03:23.440 --> 00:03:30.959
wide aspect ratio can be deeply engaging. So due to this, more and more

00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:36.280
games are starting to support 21 by9 natively, and we're seeing 21 by9

00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:38.480
monitors become more common in the

00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:42.239
marketplace. So where does this leave us for the future? Well, I wouldn't be

00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:46.159
surprised if the market for ultrawide content and hardware continues to grow,

00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:50.000
not just because of its immersiveness, but also because of its benefits to

00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:53.920
content creators, uh, productivity-minded people, and the

00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:57.760
manufacturers of displays who desperately need something new to sell

00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:02.159
you. And there's also little doubt that we'll start to see new aspect ratio

00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:08.799
standards start to pop up thanks to the rise of VR. The Oculus Rift, for

00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:11.360
example, uses a 16x10 aspect ratio to

00:04:08.799 --> 00:04:14.959
fill the wearer's field of view as much as possible. I mean, hell, maybe we'll

00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:20.720
just make our own special Linus Media Group aspect ratio for optimal Luke

00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:23.040
viewing. After all, viewer satisfaction

00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:27.120
is what we're all about. Speaking of satisfaction, have you ever wanted to

00:04:24.960 --> 00:04:30.960
learn something? Have you ever felt that satisfied feeling of learning something?

00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:36.560
Well, it's quite possible you're already a member, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway. linda.com. With a

00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:39.680
linda.com membership, you can watch and learn from top experts who are

00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:44.000
passionate about teaching. They've got thousands of video courses that you can

00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:47.759
either stream on your computer or you can download to your phone and watch

00:04:45.919 --> 00:04:52.080
them later or your other portable device like a tablet. It allows you to browse

00:04:50.080 --> 00:04:55.120
course transcripts to follow along or search for an answer and skip to that

00:04:53.840 --> 00:04:58.880
point in the video. It allows you to create playlists that you can share with

00:04:57.280 --> 00:05:04.000
your friends so you guys can all do like a a learning path together. It's got all

00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.919
kinds of like great fantastic features. And the best thing about it, actually,

00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:12.320
there's a couple best things about it. I have two best things about it. Best

00:05:09.280 --> 00:05:15.039
thing number one is that you will get a

00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:18.240
free 10-day trial. All you have to do is check out the link in the video

00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:22.320
description. And best thing number two is that it all starts at a flat rate of

00:05:20.080 --> 00:05:24.560
just 25 bucks a month if you try it out and you're like, "Oh yeah, this is

00:05:23.440 --> 00:05:30.000
really cool. I'm like learning programming or like I'm taking my photography to the next level or video

00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:35.440
editing or whatever else the case may be." Yes, my friends, links in the video

00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:36.720
description. And that's all. So, thanks

00:05:35.440 --> 00:05:42.080
for watching, guys. If you like this video, hit the like button. If you disliked it, hit the other button, the

00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:46.080
subscribe button. Yeah, if you disliked it, get subscribed so that we have

00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:49.039
another chance to have you like a different video. Speaking of different

00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.680
videos, leave a comment below this one if you have suggestions for other videos you'd like to see us make. And as

00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:58.479
always, subscribe and follow and all that good stuff. Whether you liked or disliked it, just get subscribed. You

00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:01.199
never know when we might make something decent for a